I am familiar with this area first hand, I lived in one of the most expensive counties in NJ, I moved here 1 year ago, I have never been happier. I have a brother with 14 rental properties who is living the american dream.
Homes are older, but taxes are reasonable, the return on your investment you can't get anywhere else. I bought a rental home for 15K and I get 500 per month on that rental, try to get that from the bank or any other investment.

As mentioned before...I do not see any real growth in this area. If you are looking to live in the house, then it is surely affordable. Prices seem to be low, but the homes are older too.

I am not familiar with the area, but my expertise in real estate investing can be applied to any area.

Good luck to you!

Denton Ward
Nationwide Real Estate Investments
http://www.nwrei.net